


Stop Swimming

by KB9VCN



Category: El Hazard: The Magnificent World
Genre: Angst, Gen, Snippet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-03-31
Updated: 2002-03-31
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:18:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8760232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KB9VCN/pseuds/KB9VCN
Summary: Written March 2002; angst; about 500 words.
This takes place before the end of the first OVA series, but after the second OVA series and The Alternate World.
"This is, uh, about the saddest song in the whole Porcupine Tree catalog, which is saying something, OK?  But, for me, the saddest things, the saddest songs, are also always the most beautiful and the most uplifting.  Maybe that's just me.  This is called, 'Stop Swimming'." —Steven Wilson, 23 June 2001
This contains adult themes.  Reader discretion is advised.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written March 2002; angst; about 500 words.
> 
> This takes place before the end of the first OVA series, but after the second OVA series and _The Alternate World_.
> 
> "This is, uh, about the saddest song in the whole Porcupine Tree catalog, which is saying something, OK? But, for me, the saddest things, the saddest songs, are also always the most beautiful and the most uplifting. Maybe that's just me. This is called, 'Stop Swimming'." —Steven Wilson, 23 June 2001
> 
> This contains adult themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Almost two years had passed.

Fujisawa gave occasional lectures at the city schools; he guided other explorers through the mountains that he had come to know so well; he even bought a small vineyard near his home and began to learn the winemaking trade, as family life brought moderation to his drinking.

Nanami's restaurant and catering business remained small but successful and well-regarded. And more importantly, she was keeping company with a young fellow that everyone liked.

Even Shayla was taking her day-to-day duties more seriously. Perhaps not yet as seriously as she should, but it was a start.

They were all getting on with their lives.

All except for him.

Almost two years had passed.

He had learned enough of the written languages of El-Hazard to read every book in the royal library. He read many of them two or three times over. Then he read every book in Afura's library, and then he searched all of the other private libraries in the kingdom.

He laid hands on every scrap of ancient technology he could find. He drew amazingly detailed and accurate schematics of the more complete relics. He explored every major ruin, helping the royal archaeologists catalogue objects as they were uncovered.

He spent weeks crawling through the dormant Eye of God, learning more about it than anyone even knew there was to learn.

And he had not found the answer.

The passing of time began to weigh on him. She would wait for him for thousands of years, maybe forever. But he had only fifty, sixty, maybe seventy years left to him to find her. What if it wasn't enough?

And the link he shared with her had always weighed on him since she had gone. But recently, it had begun to grow heavier.

It felt like the connection between them was pulling him down after her, into the nothingness in which she was already lost.

For the past few weeks, he had rarely left his room. He pored over his notes, again and again and again, but he actually read less and less each time. The words danced and blurred together.

He had stopped taking regular meals about five days ago.

Yesterday, he hadn't got out of bed.

They all came to see him. He could see and hear them, although he was unwilling or unable to respond. Fujisawa quietly sat in his room for hours, knowing there was nothing he could do. Nanami berated him— come on, pull yourself together, you're no good to her or anyone else like this. Shayla stormed into the room, stared at him for a moment, and then ran away bawling.

And he lay perfectly still, holding her key-staff like a drowning man clinging to a piece of wood from a lost ship.

Maybe it's time to stop swimming.

Oh, Ifurita. I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do.


End file.
